Wheel block



Aug. 8, 1950 G. R. JOHNSON 2,517,673

WHEEL BLOCK Filed July 25, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 /NVENTOR Z6 GUY D. JOHNSON 5r f ll A T TOPNE Y5 8, 1950 G. R. JOHNSON I 2,517,673

WHEEL BLOCK Filed July 25, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 F/GJU ATTORNEYS Patented Aug. 8, 1950 UNITED STAT es PATE- NT or Free WHEEL BLOCK. Guy'Rl Johnson, Rochester, Minm Application Jzulm 25; 1946, Sem'alrNo. ,686i21ilv.

llpfilaims; (Cl; 188-32 1. This invention relates .to. wheellblocksand more particularly to, at. wheel. blocks suitable for... use. in

. holding arubben-tired. vehicle of theautomative.

type against; movement when. another. of. the wheels of the vehicle is elevated by, meansofa bumper jacle. When ,utilizing aibumpenjack, the jackis 1' placed. under: the bumper of the. vehicle and. the: vehicle, is elevated. to .i a considerable height .so as.- liftl thewheeloff. the ground; Manx. accidents have it occurred. when. using. bumper jacks due torthe fact.that the relatively great elevation; of the vehiclenecessary when. using. a bumpen. jack .causes the. vehicle to tend. to. side.- slip, and to move endwise. Sincewthebumpen jack is not. usually firmly secured L Q the -.bump er andis relatively, tall, even-a slight. movementlof. the; vehicle endwayslorsideways is likely, te-cause. the jack. toslide Joni the bumper and, let the. vee hicle-down, sometimes.withdisastrous results.

It is anzobj ect. of. the. presentinvention, to. pro,- vide an. improved wheel. blocktcapableof holding .a vehiclesof theiautomotive,typeagainstiende wise. movement and, to. supply, an appreciable; holding, force againstsideways movements Itsis a further obj ect, of, the invention. to.- provide an.- improved. wheeli block. capable. of being folded, away, into. a small. space it and. to i provide. a t wheel. block.v capable. of. being manufactured. att low cost with atminimumhofnmaterials. other. andiurther. objects of. theinventiontare. those: inherent, in. the apparatus. herein. illus trated; described. and claimed.

The inventionisl illustrated with referencewto the drawings, in; which Figure. 1. illustrates. an automobile having. one; wheeLlifted by means-0fia.-b11mp,er jackanda wheeltblock of. the .presentvinvention in place on. another wheel;

Eigures2 and; 3. are sidetand endelevationalj; views respectively, the. latter being: somewhat. enlarged ofione. of,.the,wheels of. a. vehicletshowe ing. the wheel; block of the; present invention t in.- plaoe; h l

Eigures. is: a .plan. View: ofhthelwheelkbloele resmoved from. the vehicle, but" showing, the. wheelr block. in l full... lines in: the; position. in l which the parts ,wouldbe. usediwhen imwheel blockingcona ditioni. Figure. 4. also. shows ins dotted. lines i an. intermediate. position of; several. of the. parts; l

Figureb isa plan view showing thewheelblock. folddtb nestingoonditibn for stewing andshipi a;

Figure 6] is a" side elevational View, aruyym section, taken a'l'ong th'e lines" 6 -6 off-Figure 5;

q l igurefl fewe side' elevati'onalview ofr'the wheel? tional view taken, in. the direction; of. arrows l2--l2* offElgure 8;.

Referring'to the drawings, .in Figure. I there is ill'ustrated'an automotive .veliicle generally, designated Ill. In this instance the right. rear tire. I l of; the vehicle is assumed. to. have goneflhti and it" is desired to. elevate the same whichiis done bymeans ofla bumper jack oflusualltype shown at. I 2. TheJeft rear. wheeliof j the vehicle illustrated at. l3jremains ontheground'. Invorden to prevent movement of T the vehicle during. the. jackingpperation, the wheeliblock oithevpresent invention generally designatedtzfl' is plaeedlunderr the rightfront wheel. M.

Referring toE'igures 2.7Jthe wheell blo.ck..con-.- sists' of a. pair of :plates 2 I and 22. whichiare. pref erabl'y ofidenticaliform. The plateshave-pon tions 24 and.25,.Fig.ure 7,,wliich.normal1y engage. the ground during. the blocking, operationandta; curved upper portion. 26.." and 27h at each edge. which will engage the tire of thelvehicle,,so.-asito, prevent the wheel fi'om rolling in .eithen. direction. The wheel. block plates 2| and 2-2. are pivotallyv attached. by means of bolts. or. rivets, 311i and 3A9. to' a tie barorlink 32 which may have dowm wardly extending edge. portion. 34, as. shown in Figures zand 4; This edge portionserves tolengage; the surface of the highwayuponwhieh the. device isused and'assists inpreventing sidebslip, of the wheel. block. If. desired, the, downwardly? extending portion 34 may beserratedae indie cated at 34A. in Figure 5,.so as to. maketha grip ping action more positivewhere the device issto.

he used in snow or. loose. dirt; The-tie ban 32, may,. if 1 desired, be: provided with... a plurality oft holes. 351,,so. as to." allow. change; of! position: of: plates 2|;with reference. to plate. 22;.thereby, penmitting the wheel'blbck to. becusedwit'h. wheels;

ofivarying outsidediameters. As shown. mums? ure 2;.the wheelblockis placed so thattthe ROI?- mal ground. engaging" portion of" the tire 36 will engagefthe inner or adjac'ent edges 38 and 39 of.

the plates 2! or 22 thereby holding the plates tightly in engagement with the road bed. In practice the plates 2! and 22 are so spaced by the tire bar 32 that they may be slipped beneath the wheel, the edges 33 and 39 just clearing the lower tread surface of the tire. The plates are thus so positioned (see Fig. 2) that if the wheel rolls either forward or rearward the slightest distance it will press the edge of one of the plates firmly against the roadway and then come up against the upturned edge 25 or 2?, as the case may be, to prevent further movement. The vehicle is thus firmly held against rolling such as might cause the jack to slip as will be readily understood.

When it is desired to remove the wheel block the vehicle may be driven either forwardly or backwardly a very slight amount so as to center it with respect to the block which may then be removed without difficulty. The pivotal connec tion of the plates to the tie bar 32 facilitates both engagement and disengagement since one plate may be pushed in beneath the wheel, or worked out from therebeneath, and then the other will be readily maneuverable as required.

When it is desired to stow the wheel block the plates 2! and 22 are pivoted in the direction of arrows 40 and M with respect to the tie bar 32 through the dotted line position shown in Figure 4 to the position shown in Figure 5. In this po sition there is an overlap of plates, in this instance the free end of plate 22 being overlapped over the free end of plate 2!. It will be noted with reference to Figure 6 that the plate 2! is preferably spaced from the tie bar 32 b means of a spacing washer as indicated at M. The spacing washer is preferably made of a thickness approximately equal to the thickness of the plates 2| and 22 so that the plates nest freely 1 without imposing any bending strain upon the pivoting bolts or rivets 30 and 3!.

Referring to Figures 8-12 there is illustrated a desirable commercial form of the invention which is substantiall identical with that form of the invention shown in Figures 1-7 but has some slight modifications so as to improve the strength and operation of the device. Thus, as shown in Figures 8-12, the wheel blocking plates 5! and 52 are pivotally attached to a tie bar or link 53 by means of pivot rivets 5t! and 55. The plates 5! and 52 are preferably identical and accordingly are punched at both corners as indicated at 52-5 and 55-55. The punching of the plates at both corners makes them identical and permits them to be manufactured without troubling about rights or lefts, and thus facili tates both the manufacture and assembly of the device.

Both the plates 5! and 52 are provided with reinforcing beading so as to improve the stifi'ness and the strength of the plate and link. Thus, plates 5! and 52 have reinforcing corrugations 56 and the link 53 has a reinforcing corrugation 5!. In addition, the plates 5! and 52 each have their marginal edges rolled down as indicated at 58 and 59 which not only stiffens the plate but also presents a downwardly engagin edge which facilitates the gripping of the plate to the road bed upon which it is applied as will be seen in Fig. 11. It will be noted in Figure 10 that the link 53 is provided with a bend at 6! which presents an offset sufficient to permit the plate 52 to be nested in the space 52. This obviates the necessity of a spacing washer such as washer 44 of Figure 6. The bent up portion of the plates 58 and 59 is illustrated in Figure 11 wherein it will be observed that the bent up portion is shown under the bracket 64, whereas the ground engaging portion is shown under the bracket 65. The use of the apparatus shown in Figures 8-12 is the same as that previously described with reference to Figures 1-7.

As many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention may be made without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, it is to be understood that I do not limit myself to the specific embodiments herein except as defined by the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A wheel block mechanism comprising a pair of plates each having a ground engaging portion and an upwardly extending portion, a connection link, said plates being each attached to the connection link with the ground engaging portions directed towards each other and the upwardly extending portions away from each other, said plates being pivotally mounted on the connection link so as to be swingable to a position in which the plates are aligned end for end and partially nested.

2. A wheel block mechanism comprising a pair of plates each having a ground engaging portion and an upwardly bent edge portion, said plates being positionable when in use so as to extend across in front and in back of a wheel of the automobile type with the wheel resting on ground engaging portions and with at least a portion of the circumference of the wheel bearing against the bent up edge, and a tie bar pivotally attached to the edges of the ground engaging plates and extending alongside the wheel, said plates being pivoted in respect to the tie bar so as to fold to generally aligned position lengthwise of the bar with an end portion of one plate nested under the end portion of the other plate.

3. A wheel block mechanism comprising a pair of plates each having a ground engaging portion and an upwardly extending portion, a connection link, said plates being each attached to the connection link with the ground engaging portions directed towards each other and the upwardly extending portions away from each other, and said plates being pivotally mounted on the connection link so as to be swingable to a position in which the plates are aligned end for end and partially nested, the said plates being more than half as long as the connection link.

4. A wheel block mechanism comprising a pair of plates each having a ground engaging portion and an upwardly extending portion, a connection link, said plates being each attached to the connection link with the ground engaging portions directed towards each other and the upwardly extending portions away from each other, and said plates being pivotally mounted on the connection link so as to be swingable to a position in which the plates are aligned end for end and partially nested, the said connection link having a downwardly directed portion for gripping the surface on which it is placed.

5. A wheel block mechanism comprising a pair of plates each having a ground engaging portion and an upwardly extending portion, a connection link, said plates being each attached to the connection link with the ground engaging portions directed towards each other and the. upwardly extending portions away from each other, and said plates being pivotally mounted on the connection link so as to be swingable to a position in which the plates are aligned end for end and partially nested, the said connection link having a downwardly directed serrated edge portion for gripping the surface on which it is placed.

6. A wheel block mechanism comprising a pair of plates each having a ground engaging portion and an upwardly extending portion, a connection link, said plates being each attached to the connection link with the ground engaging portions directed towards each other and the upwardly extending portions away from each other, and said plates being pivotally mounted on the connection link so as to be swingable to a position in which the plates are aligned end for end and partially nested, one of the plates being pivoted in spaced relationship to the connection link so as to facilitate overlap of the plates when they are moved to nested positions.

7. A wheel block mechanism comprising a pair of plates each having a ground engaging portion and an upwardly extending portion, a connection link, said plates being each attached to the connection link with the ground engaging portions directed towards each other and the upwardly extending portions away from each other, members pivotally mounting the plates on the connection link so as to be swingable to a positon in which the plates are aligned end for end and partially nested, the said link having a plurality of openings for the selective reception of said members pivoting the plates to permit spacing adjustments of the plates.

8. A wheel block mechanism comprising a pair of plates each having a ground engaging portion and an upwardly bent edge portion, said plates being positionable when in use so as to extend across in front and in back of a wheel of the automobile type with the wheel resting on ground engaging portions and with at least a portion of the circumference of the wheel bearing against the bent up edge, and a tie bar pivotally attached to the edges of the ground engaging plates and extending alongside the wheel, said plates being pivoted in respect to the tie bar so as to fold to generally aligned position lengthwise of the bar with an end portion of one plate nested under the end portion of the other plate, the said plates having reinforcing corrugations.

9. A wheel block mechanism comprising a pair of plates each having a ground engaging portion and an upwardly bent edge portion, said plates being positionable when in use so as to extend across in front and in back of a wheel of the automobile type with the wheel resting on ground engaging portions and with at least a portion of the circumference of the wheel bearing against the bent up edge, and a tie bar pivotally attached to the edges of the ground engaging plates and extending alongside the wheel, said plates being pivoted in respect to the tie bar so as to fold to generally aligned position lengthwise of the bar with an end portion of one plate nested under the end portion of the other plate, the said plates having turned down edges for stiffening the plates and for engaging the surface upon which the plates rest to thereby hold the plates against slipping on that surface.

10. Means for blocking a vehicle whee1,comprising a pair of spaced plates positionable ahead of and behind the wheel and having upwardly turned portions and ground portions extending toward each other, the said plates being so proportioned and so spaced that the wheel will first engage the ground engaging portion of either plate as it rolls toward the upturned end thereof and prior to contacting said upturned end to thereby hold the plate on the ground without slippage, and means for holding the plates in properly spaced relation.

11. Means of the character described for blocking a vehicle wheel, a pair of plates having oppositely extending ground engaging portions terminating in upwardly turned wheel engaging portions an adapted to be placed respectively forwardly and rearwardly of the wheel, and means for holding the plates in spaced relation such that the vehicle wheel will bear on the edges of their ground engaging portions holding them to the ground whereby said upwardly turned portions will restrain the wheel against rolling, the said edges of the ground engaging portions of the plates having downwardly turned means for gripping the ground surface.

GUY R. JOHNSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,047,048 Harrison Dec. 10, 1912 1,276,430 Smith Aug. 20, 1918 2,491,989 Lind Dec. 20, 1949 

